Micah Lemon

A “global whiskey renaissance”—that’s what the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States is calling the trend in spirits over the last five years. Domestic and international demand for whiskey—bourbon in particular—has forced some of the largest producers to warn consumers of impending shortages, as demand is significantly outpacing supply. U.S. Whiskey exports topped 1 […]

“Yeah, that’s a Special Order Item. You need to submit a Special Order form.” “I know, I submitted a Special Order form eight months ago.” “You’ll have to submit a Special Order form for any Special Order Items.” “I did—eight months ago—and I’ve been requesting the item every week since. Any progress on that request? […]

A wise man once wrote: “What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” And that’s not a bad thing, especially when it comes to drinks. The classic mixed drinks, concocted in the American Golden Age of Cocktails (roughly […]

I’ve done this several times, all with the same result. I hand a patron a translucent, orange-tinged beverage. They look at it curiously and shrug, and I wait for them to take their first sip. First their face wrinkles in confusion. Then there is cautious enjoyment. Then, even more intense confusion. What follows for some […]

Those of you who know me know that I’m a champion of the little guy. I root the for the apron-clad shop owner, the starving artist who waits tables, and the homebrewer who dreams of running an eight-barrel system. With so many of our world’s products mass-produced out of sight, I find it refreshing to […]

I distinctly remember the aromas of Tanqueray gin and Myers’s rum from my days as a country club bartender in Lynchburg. Despite their potency, I knew how to make the spirits taste as good as they smelled. Then there was the vermouth—cheap stuff, likely sitting open for years, as dry martini-drinking members from the ’80s had […]

I spent all of January getting everything in order to open a serious cocktail bar Downtown. Several weeks went into researching what the business’s official and exact position on ice, shaking, dilution, stirring, double straining, etc. should be. I spent another several days discussing this with our staff and figuring out specifically how to implement those […]

When it comes to the human palate, the perception of the flavor “bitter” is bitterly controversial. As far back as 60,000 years ago, our simian ancestors found that many of the plants that were lethal had a bitter flavor. If they could perceive this bitter flavor, they could avoid eating a toxic plant, survive, and […]

Fermented things scare a lot of people. Submerged veggies in dubious states of edibility are not exactly as mouthwatering as they may have been in the past, and the staple and tradition of fermented food in the human diet has declined as most of the foods in supermarkets are sterilized, pasteurized, or rendered a-biotic through […]

Before the water cooler, there was the punch bowl. The bowl contained the original social medium—a beverage spiked with alcohol—and it brought people together. Groups of people congregated around the bowl, catching up on gossip, making merry, and enjoying one another’s company. Sumerian art from as early as the 3rd century BC reveals that it’s […]

Cider is not on the mind of most diners and tipplers when they’re out on the town. In fact, most people may be surprised to know that the cider industry in the United State is currently experiencing an explosion of craft beer proportions. It’s easy to imagine winemakers as slight Frenchmen, or beer brewers as […]

“Of course a macrobeer can’t compete with a craft brew!” I couldn’t agree more. What is surprising, however, is that I agree with Heineken CEO Jean-Francois Van Boxmeer, in a quote from this past August on beveragedaily.com. He went on: “Craft beers have been taking the lion’s share of beer market growth over the last […]